


Run-of-the-Mill Rebels: Cecilos Drabbles in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

by youngmonstrumologist



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-02 05:50:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5236667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngmonstrumologist/pseuds/youngmonstrumologist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the spirit of the season (aka exactly a month until the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens), I decided this was necessary. Hopefully appropriately so. Drabbles for now, hopefully to be expanded.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The door to the hangar clattered open, revealing a determined, battle-torn Cecil Gershwin Palmer. Completely oblivious to his shredded clothing and the galactic soot covering every inch of his visible skin, as well as everything else for that matter, his eyes locked onto those of a certain scientist.

Carlos’ heart skipped a beat. He drew a breath and did not let it out. And did not let it out. Because, surely, Cecil couldn’t be looking at him that way right? Right?

Then Cecil was crossing the room in long, hurried, sure strides until he was directly in front of Carlos. And then there was no space at all between him and Carlos.

The second Cecil began leaning in, Carlos has closed his eyes. It was instinctive, really. Not because he was hoping, he told himself, but rather to protect himself, as he had no viable explanation for what was happening. Then he felt the light brush of Cecil’s lips on his, and he felt himself react with confusion. His eyebrows drew together, his head turned slightly to the left, and his eyes remained closed.

However, the turn of his head was met with stronger willpower, a solid force of this-is-really-happening-Carlos. And then suddenly Carlos’ lips were loosening slightly, and there was the warmth of Cecil’s tongue on his lips and Cecil’s hand on his neck and loosely, desperately he flailed out with one hand as he tilted his head further to the left - intentional this time.

Cecil pulled away, but not far enough away that he was out of Carlos’ space. Carlos still felt Cecil’s breath in short, warm waves against his cheek. Dimly, Carlos realized his hand had landed lightly on Cecil’s hip, where it now desperately clenched the fabric of the shirt beneath his jacket without actually making contact with the shirt’s owner.

He looked up, to find concerned eyes considering him from above those soft, warm lips he already wanted desperately back on his own. “I’m sorry, are you ok? I didn’t mean to ambush you like this I just…” His words trailed off, but his eyes stayed locked on Carlos’. It took Carlos a moment to process the words, but when he did, he nodded, closing his eyes again for just a moment.

In that moment it took for him to blink, Cecil pushed against him again. This time, there was somehow less space and the only thing Carlos could think about was the points of contact between them. Cecil’s mouth on his, Carlos’ head tipped back and the steady, solid force of Cecil’s hand on his hip pushing him back, back against the console.

Carlos shuffled backward, almost losing his balance. The hand that had been tangled in Cecil’s shirt flailed and landed behind him on the interface, causing several faders to slide high up the board.

Cecil pulled away again and Carlos quickly brought his hand up, mouth in a silent “O” to examine the points of pain in his palm. Looking up, he shook his out and realized he was met with a wall of shouting and whistling from his colleagues. At first he assumed it was for the mission, now complete and successful, but as he looked around he realized everyone was grinning wildly at him and clapping in his direction.

Immediate embarrassment ensued, and he instinctively reached for the closest protection - in this case, Cecil. Both hands again clenched in the fabric of Cecil’s shirt, this time the front, he tucked his face into Cecil’s shoulder and stayed there.

By the time he realized what he had done, the crowd was already quieting down. As he moved to let go as quickly as he possibly could, he backed up against Cecil’s hands around his lower back. Suddenly Cecil was pressing his cheek into Carlos’ and squeezing him in a strong, reassuring hug that lasted several moments longer than Carlos had first anticipated. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing. In fact, Carlos found it was rather a very pleasant thing.

Slowly, Cecil released the pressure and let his arms drop. Carlos looked up to meet his eyes, still somewhat bewildered and very much dumbfounded.

“I missed you,” Cecil said. “But I almost missed you a lot more.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Cecil, can you hear me?” The voice crackled to life in Cecil’s helmet.

“Yeah, I hear you,” he said, doing his best to divert minimal attention from the windshield in front of him. The plan had been to use the astroid field as cover, since the advantage of the rebels’ x-wings lay mainly in their agility over the imperial ships. Dangerous, yes, but they were fighting a revolution, after all.

“You need to get out of there,” the voice pleaded.

A rock the size of his ship rolled slowly into his path, turning over and over, slowly and infinitely in its journey across the universe. Quickly and smoothly, Cecil pulled up and over the obstacle, before re-entering his original path. He continued on, eyes glued to what was happening in front of him, vigilantly and critically watching for sudden obstacles.

“Watch above!” his radio crackled desperately.

Cecil reacted instantly, pushing down on his controls as his eyes flicked towards the radar screen to see a huge astroid careening towards him from an angle. Agilely, and with immediacy, he swung the craft down and wide in a tight arc before again resuming his original path.

“And do what, retreat?” He asked, through gritted concentration.

“Yes!”

“We can’t retreat now.”

“Please, Cecil! Twenty three fighters have already pulled back.”

“Well, let’s not make it twenty four.” Suddenly he came into a clearing in the astroid field, and he looked around. He pulled up in a vertical loop, and twisted the ship around.

Facing where he had come from, he leveled off into a horizontal circle a hundred meters above his exit point. Zipping around this path, once, twice, his eyes scanned the monitors.

“Visible in about seventeen seconds,” the intercom informed him anxiously. Cecil slowed his speed by half, and as he reached the far side of the circle once more he flipped over into a tight turn, just as the first of three imperial TIE fighters tailing him entered the clearing.

Pewww. Pewww. Cecil fired, his position slightly above the imperial craft giving him the few crucial extra seconds he needed to have a chance at surviving the one versus three battle he was about to take on.

His second shot was true, and where there had been a ship the moment before, a small explosion seemed to hang in space-time, existing according to rules of its own.

Just as the first ship’s explosion subsided, the second and third entered the clearing, one a few seconds behind the other.

“Shit.” The mumbled word was muffled by the intercom.

“It’s fine, Carlos. I’m fine,” he said, voice hard, determined.

The second TIE fighter opened fire, quickly falling in behind Cecil and just barely missing him with its twin cannons.

Instinctively, Cecil’s hands twitched at the controls.

“Not yet! Hold course,” Carlos crackled. Cecil set his mouth in a straight line as the TIE fighter quickly gained on him. 

“Hold,” Carlos repeated. The edge of the rolling astroid field was fast approaching and Cecil gripped the controls tighter, ready to react at the first consonant he heard out of Carlos’ mouth.

“NOW!”

Cecil dropped into a near vertical dive, ducking beneath the laserfire’s path with just milliseconds to spare. The TIE fighter, traveling too fast to turn in time, crashed straight into the astroid wall. 

As the ship erupted in flame, flinging rock and metal detritus in all directions, Cecil scanned the fast-disappearing clearing for the final imperial ship.

“10 o’clock, 200 meters above,” Carlos reported.

“Got it,” Cecil pulled up, re-entering his circular flight pattern from before, that the third ship now inhabited. 

The imperial pilot saw this and quickly increased his speed, knowing in that respect it far outmatched the rebel ship. Cecil managed one good shot before the ship started pulling out of range, but at that point it was too late to cause much damage.

“AGHH!” Cecil yelled as his shot slipped just beneath the ships right wing. And then the roles were suddenly reversed. Where a second before Cecil had the advantage from behind, the TIE fighter inched closer into range.

“Cecil, MOVE!”

Cecil jerked the controls sideways, but not fast enough to entirely avoid the shot. The ship shuddered, spiraling down and leftward as Cecil desperately tried to regain control. 

He flattened out, letting the ship slow slightly as he stabilized flight.

“How bad?” he yelled into his headset.

“Um, ah.” He heard Carlos scrambling to check the specs. “It’s not too bad, clipped the bottom of your lower right wing. Still not advantageous for flying conditions, but you should be able to make it if you head straight for base.” His voice sounded taught and tinny over the intercom.

“How bad really, Carlos?”

“W-well your balance and navigation is pretty much shot. You won’t be able to sustain angled flight paths very well or make close turns hardly at all.”

“Nothing immediate though?”

“…Not immediate, no, but if you don’t come straight back you’ll be at severe risk—”

“I’m finishing this.”

“Cecil,” Carlos sounded pained. “I really think—”

“We need this victory, Carlos.”

“And we’ll hardly be able to win if you die, Cecil.”

“I’ll be careful, Carlos. We have to do this.”

Static roared in Cecil’s helmet for a moment, and he realized it was Carlos letting out a long breath. “…Ok,” the tech specialist agreed, albeit hesitantly.

“Ok,” Cecil repeated, tentatively guiding his ship into a turn. Astroids had closed around and above him, momentarily preventing the TIE fighter from pursuing him. “Tell me where to go.”

Before Carlos could respond, the steering slipped, and the ship swung wide, suddenly hurtling towards an astroid. 

“Down, down!” Carlos yelled.

Cecil swerved, barely managing to avoid collision, but manage it he did. He steadied the ship.

“Aim high and wide when you steer, and rely on your left wings. You’ll have more control when you turn left, so limit right turns to not at all, if possible.”

“Got it. Which way?”

“TIE fighter about 600 meters above you at 4 o’clock. He’s looking for a way down after you. Seems like he doesn’t expect you to come back at him. Clearest path to your right and angled up at 54 degrees. Don’t turn right though!”

Instinctively, Cecil had started moving into a right turn before Carlos reminded him. He redirected to the left with expert quickness, and managed to retain control.

“Ah, right,” he said. Not losing speed, he zipped around the smallest circle possible to arrive at the path Carlos had described.

“No,” Carlos said, agitation edging his voice. “Left.”

Cecil chuckled as he pulled the craft upwards.

“Don’t laugh! This is a serious situation,” Carlos snapped.

“Then don’t make puns, gorgeous,” Cecil replied, giggling.

He could practically hear Carlos’ silent pout, the scientist upset with his pilot for taking things lightly, yet still caught off-guard with the unexpected flattery.

Cecil tried to return to a straight face, but could not help smirking to himself as he hurtled upwards, closing the distance between him and the TIE fighter. Ultimately unable to control his amusement, he chuckled again, thinking about the face Carlos must have been making.

Before he could remind his boyfriend that he loved him, however, unmistakable urgency returned to the situation.  
“Enemy at 7 o’clock,” Carlos reported, cold and concentrated once again. “They seem to be onto us. Approaching from your right.”

Cecil’s eyes darted towards his radar, and he quickly realized the other ship was closing in, much too close for comfort. He scanned for an out.

With limited options not that his small advantage was destroyed, Cecil swung the ship around and especially large, slow moving astroid to remove himself from the TIE fighter’s range. Suddenly struck with images of Carlos’ life should he not return, Cecil double and triple checked his monitors. Panic started squeezing at him. His breath hitched.

“Carlos, I can’t outrun him.” Though he tried to remain calm, he heard the panic starting to creep into his voice.

Carlos sounded uncharacteristically calm, as though oblivious to the abrupt change in Cecil’s confidence. His voice crackled over the intercom, stronger than before. “Then meet him head on,” he directed. “As soon as you can, duck under.”

Unable to respond, unable to even breath, Cecil sat paralyzed at the controls.

“Cecil, breath,” Carlos ordered, calm quickly edging towards distress. At the sound of his boyfriend’s voice, Cecil snapped back into overdrive. Faster than probably actually safe, considering the ship’s condition, Cecil plunged the ship down and around the astroid, hugging the curve of its surface. 

Reaching the other side, he shot out into the open space between rocks. Angling his flight up, Cecil made use momentum to flip into a vertical circle, minimizing his reliance on the injured wing. 

As soon as he exited the loop, Cecil twisted the x-wing into a counter-clockwise spiral until it flattened out once again.

Only just pulling out of its banked curve around the astroid, the TIE fighter held no defense against the rebel fighter.

Cecil now raced straight back towards the astroid with nothing but a clear shot of the imperial ship below. Continuing to push his ship’s acceleration along a direct collision course, Cecil suddenly realized Carlos was screaming “NOW, NOW, NOW!”

Carefully, he aimed his guns. 

PEW, PEW, PEW, PEW, PEW. 

The cannons spat laserfire, perforating the path ahead of the ship from which it came. As the target suddenly loomed in his path, Cecil yanked up, pulling out of the fatal dive. He spun around with a steady hand, poised to make a second swoop if necessary.

By the time he turned, however, the first shots had hit their mark, sending the injured ship slightly sideways before it burst into radiant waves of molecular light and heat.   
The force of the explosion buffeted against the x-wing, knocking the ship upwards. Taking advantage of the extra momentum, Cecil raced through the astroid field, exploding into space now free in more ways than one.

He heard muffled yelling in the background of his headset, clearly celebration from everyone back in the communications center.

“Cecil?” Carlos’ voice crackled over the intercom and Cecil smiled to himself.

“Yes, Carlos?”

The question seemed to hang in the air longer than typical physics would allow, not unlike that first explosion. 

“…I love you,” came the reply, sureness made tinny by the sound of the transmission.


End file.
